The Point: Another tragic statistic to come out of the pandemic

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September 1, 2021 | by Chris Cillizza and Lauren Dezenski

1 tragic statistic to come out of the pandemic

The numbers are daunting.

There have been more than 39 million cases of Covid-19 in America since the start of the pandemic. The virus has killed more than 640,000 of our fellow citizens.

The sheer magnitude of those numbers makes them hard for us to properly contextualize. The enormity of what we've lost is challenging to get our arms around.

Which is why this headline stopped me in my tracks when I came across it today in the Fargo Forum:

"1 in 500 North Dakotans has died of COVID-19"

Yes, you read that right. One in every 500 residents of North Dakota have died of Covid-19. Not been infected. Died.

Here's the math: North Dakota has had 1,560-plus people die from Covid-19. And according to the 2020 census, its population is 779,094. So divide 779,094 by 1,560 and you get roughly 500.

What's even more remarkable? North Dakota isn't the only state where that 1 in 500 figure is true.

Florida, Michigan, Ohio and South Dakota have also lost roughly 1 in 500 of their residents to the coronavirus. New Jersey has lost 1 in every 346 residents to Covid-19.

Four of those six states -- all except Michigan and New Jersey -- are run by Republican governors. And in South Dakota and Florida, in particular, their governors have an eye on national office in 2024 and used their laissez-faire approach to Covid-19 as a resume booster.

The Point: Take a minute today to consider what it means to lose 1 of every 500 people (or 1 of every 346) in your state to this awful disease. And to hope that terrifying numbers like these convince more people to get vaccinated. It's our only hope of avoiding even more death and loss.

-- Chris

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"McCarthy just made the congressional equivalent of a 'Snitches Get Stitches' threat."

-- Rep. Eric Swalwell tweeted criticism of GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's threat to companies that cooperate with the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, warning that "a Republican majority will not forget."
In a statement, Swalwell went even further, saying: "I think we should consider a criminal referral for witness tampering/intimidation and obstruction of justice."

WEDNESDAY'S MUST-SEE TWEETS

1. President Joe Biden blasts the Texas abortion ban

2. Have we (finally) hit the peak for the Delta variant?

3. And is vaccine hesitancy going away?

4. Who we are versus who we think we are

5. We could all use more baby rhino in our lives

CHRIS' GOOD READS

Republicans are going to run on Afghanistan in the 2022 midterms, reports Axios. I am not totally convinced that will work. ...

One of the under-told stories of this pandemic is of the long haulers: people with symptoms that go on long after the initial infection has cleared their bodies. The Atlantic's Ed Yong shines a light on them and asks what their future holds.

The detailed information on population growth (and decline) released last month by the Census Bureau was more positive than expected. Ruy Teixeira digs through the numbers to explain why that analysis misses the mark.

This a wonderful -- and powerful -- photo essay of Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover via Tyler Hicks of The New York Times.

Charlie Warzel is a favorite of mine. His latest -- on anti-careerism -- is a reexamination of so many of the assumptions we make about work and what it can and should mean.

A great read in the Wall Street Journal on how the pandemic has revivified the travel agent business. (Great news for Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings!)

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

No one in rock music has a voice like Jim James, the frontman for My Morning Jacket. It's distinctive and awesome -- and featured on the band's new single: "Regularly Scheduled Programming." (The band's new album is due out next month!)

-- Chris

MEANWHILE, IN IOWA

Former GOP presidential contender and current Florida Sen. Marco Rubio made a visit to Iowa this week. Any politician testing the waters with a preelection-year stop to the first-in-the-nation caucus state deserves a closer look. Here's what Rubio told The Des Moines Register:

"Having done this once, there's no purpose of being coy about it, I'm running for reelection in Florida to serve in the United States Senate," Rubio told reporters after attending a party fundraiser in Mason City. "I'm not having any conversations about running for president, but I have friends here."

"Ultimately, I don't know what the future will hold or what my life would look like in two years — or not to mention four years from now," he said. "If I had described the world five years ago to any of you, you wouldn't believe half the things that have happened in the last five years."

TL/DR: Rubio isn't officially running for president in 2024 ... but he's not ruling anything out.

ONE BIG CASE

The number of Capitol riot defendants who have pleaded guilty to charges related to the insurrection. The 50th guilty plea was finalized Wednesday in DC District Court when Abram Markofski pleaded to a misdemeanor. He admitted that he had traveled from Wisconsin to DC, attended then-President Donald Trump's rally and then illegally breached the Capitol.

Prosecutors are working to resolve many of the lower-level cases, and most of the 50 guilty pleas are for nonviolent rioters. Meanwhile, cases are progressing against defendants who allegedly attacked police or are members of right-wing extremist groups, like the Proud Boys.

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